Thursday, April 5, 2012

Sfoof: A Lebanese Semolina Turmeric cake that tastes better than it sounds


Soof or Turmeric Semolina Cake
Soof is a Lebanese dessert that we used to eat when we were kids. My dad used to get it from the dessert shop and I was utterly fascinated by those yellow squares. I could not understand how these squares were so yellow, as if a painter colored them with a swift brush stroke from an Easter color palette. Getting older, I lost all my desire to eat them, I mean I was busy discovering other fancier and more complicated desert. Sfoof did not seem that intriguing anymore. After moving to the US, a strong nostalgia of everything middle eastern and homemade took over and I finally decided to make Sfoof.
Sfoof is a great recipe because you probably have all the ingredients at home, it does not require any appliances and it is ready in an hour from start to finish..Did I mention that it tastes good...In fact, it tastes even better the next day. I like to use semolina and flour in my recipe because the semolina alone make it too crumbly and the flour alone makes it too much cake-like

Sfoof 
Preheat your oven to 350 F oven (180 C or gas 6)
Dry ingredients:

2 cups of flour (all purpose),
2 cups of semolina, (سميد ناعم)
2 cups of sugar, you can add another 1/4 cup if you like it on the sweeter side
1/2 tablespoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of turmeric (عقدة صفراء),
Mix them all together with a whisk to combine and get rid of lumps

Wet ingredients :
1 cup of milk (I used fat free but you can use anything you like),
1 cup of canola oil,
1 cup of water,

Directions:

Mix the dry and wet ingredients until combined (don't over mix so that sfoof does not turn out tough).

You need a brownies pan (I used 9*13) or Pyrex bakeware if you don't have a pan, first spray the pan with non stick canola spay (if you don't have it you can brush it with tahini) and pour the mixture in it. I like to add pine nuts on top. bake in a 350 F oven (180 C or gas 6) for 40 minutes, wait till cools down, release from pan and cut into squares or diamonds...store in a tight container to keep from drying out.
Sahtein (bon appetit in Arabic)
Give it a try and Enjoy!
Nadine

6 comments:

  1. my friend Nadine...
    I've tried the sfoof recipe today ... yalatif how delicious.. it is the best Sfoof recipe ever.. Bravo Nadine
    with love Lina

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  2. Thanks Lina. It is really a great recipe..easy to make and hard to mess it up. Enjoy!

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  3. Once again thank you very much for this great recipe. i made it for Sara's birthday, it looked good and tasted even better. I simply love it. I will definitely do it again.
    Carole K

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  4. This is a wonderful recipe! I've been making this exact recipe from my mother's Alif Baa al Tabekh cook book since I was a child!

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  5. Hi Nadine, I just found your blog and I'm really hoping to try this recipe soon. I've been getting more and more into Lebanese cooking (and I hope to move to Beirut after I graduate university in a couple months!) and this looks like a great treat. I'll let you know how it turns out!

    Amy

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  6. Please give it a try Amy! it is seriously a fail proof recipe! Many of my friends tried it and all were pleased with it. I checked out your blog and it is fantastic. What I love the most about it is that it can be ready in an hour, great for those list minutes visitors. best of luck!

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